After federal prosecutors recently announced that Nicole Torres, an NYC Board of Elections employee and a Bronx district leader in Assembly District 81, which broadly covers the northwest Bronx, was arrested for allegedly illegally demanding payments from Bronx residents to herself and to a local Bronx organization in exchange for selecting those individuals as poll workers, and for allegedly falsifying documents to fraudulently obtain poll worker paychecks, this week, we asked readers if they still had faith in the NYC Board of Elections ahead of November’s presidential and other general elections.

 

“I do have faith in the NYC Board of Elections. I’ve been a poll worker for over 25 years, so the fact that someone is caught doing something underhanded doesn’t mess up what’s going on for the rest of the people that are working there. It doesn’t make sense that someone would be trying to sell anything within the election process because it’s for the people. Regardless, if you’re Democrat or Republican, you shouldn’t be selling any jobs. You shouldn’t be getting people jobs, especially if it’s not your district. As a Democratic poll worker, I’m going to be working this election, and I am strongly faithful it’s going to be a good vote.”

R.L. Neal, (ret. veteran)

Pelham Parkway

“I do not have confidence in the NYC Board of Elections and the reason I do not is because they can’t be trusted; anything can happen. These people are scheming and scamming, it’s clear. You’re paying somebody out of pocket to get a job; you don’t even know what’s going on. If you can’t trust them as far as an election, can you imagine what else they are doing? There are so many things going on in the world that haven’t discouraged me; this won’t. This just makes me want to vote for the right people. Nobody can be sure, but I’m hopeful my vote will be counted.”

Mali Grey,

Wakefield

“No, I don’t have the same faith with them, especially with the information I just heard. I’ve been out of school for five years now, so me hearing this, it’s weird. I don’t like how the system is working now, and I just hope that the government gets better because there’s a lot of corrupt things going on and I hope we can do better as a community to help improve things for our children and not steer them in the wrong direction. I feel like this is the most important election of all time, because there’s a lot of things going on and a lot of things must change, and if we don’t make our voices heard, nothing will change.”

Jordan Haynie,

Bedford Park

“I wouldn’t say I have confidence, but I do feel like we will select the right candidates for the job. Honestly, there’s a lot of ins and outs and a lot of things that should come to light, but don’t. I’m not too confident that my vote will be counted. I can only say that I have confidence in the fact that we will select proper candidates. I’m not afraid at all of a situation like January 6^th happening again, not at all.”

Jonathan White,

Bedford Park

“No, I do not have trust in the NYC Board of Elections. I did not have trust in them before you explained this to me. It makes sense that someone would try and profit off of the position and try and control the election. I think those of us voting Republican in New York are probably not getting treated fairly, and I do not trust the NYC Board of Elections. Of course I’m going to vote. I hope my vote is counted; I’m going to cast my vote. But I hope, you know…”

Ian Blackstone,

Bedford Park visiting Jerome Park

 

Editor’s Note: Torres is deemed innocent of the referenced charges unless and until convicted in a court of law.

Norwood News reached out to NYC Board of Elections for comment on the charges brought against Torres. We also contacted the Bronx Republican Party for comment since it has been reported that Torres is a Republican. We did not receive a response as of press date from either entity.